Wringer drive



Feb. 21, 1939. J. L. PERKENS 2,147,921

WRINGER DRIVE Filed April 11, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

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. ATTORNEY.

Feb. 21, 1939.. 4 E K I 2,147,921

WRINGER DRI VE Filed April 11, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

BY am ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WRINGER DRIVE Julian L. Perkins, West Springfield, Mass. Application April 11, 1938, Serial No. 201,345

5 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in wringers such as are used in connection with domestic Washing machines and the novel features of the invention are directed more particularly to driving means for such wringers.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of reversable driving means for a wringer having engageable mechanism operable by a shifter that is actuated by a safety bar on the wringer, which the operator may easily and readily engage making it possible for the operator to instantly disconnect the roll or rolls from the driving means.

Various other novel features and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter more fully referred to in connection with the accompanying description of the tion.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the head end of a wringer embodying the novel features of the invention with parts in section;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig.

Fig. 3 is a view of certain of the parts of Fig. 2 in a different position and with certain parts omitted;

Fig. 4 is a sectional plan View on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevational view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings more in detail, the invention will be fully described.

A wringer' head is represented at 2 and to this one end of a wringer W is secured, the particular form of wringer with which the invention may be used not being important. In the form of the invention shown the wringer has an end frame 4, a longitudinal member 5, a drain board 8, a lower roll it, and an upper roll 12. An outer end frame, not shown, forms a part of the Wringer.

A manually rotatable member l2 or the like is shown which, as is common With wringers, will, on rotation, adjust the tension of the rolls. This is not shown in detail since it forms no part of the present invention.

A safety bar It extends along opposite sides of the wringer and is mounted for movement toward and away from the wringer as will hereinafter appear. These safety bars I4 are so located and arranged that should the hand of the operator become caught between the rolls or should she desire to instantly stop the wringer for any reason, she may merely bring the hand preferred form of the inven or arm up against one of the bars and move it inwardly and instantly thereby bring about disconnection of the driving mechanism as will later appear. a

The head includes a head casting 2 and this has an upper bearing 5. A drive shaft [4' is iournalled in this bearing 5 and it has rotatable thereon a pair of pinions IS. A pin or pins I8 is fixed on the shaft l4 and a shifter 20 is provided to engage the gears IE to move them up and down there being notches in adjacent ends of the gears as shown arranged to receive the pin IS.

The gears iii are shown in the neutral position. As the shifter 2B is moved up or down, one or the other of the gears has its notch brought into engagement with the pin l8 so that the said gear is rotated by the shaft I4.

A face gear 24 is in engagement with the pinions If: and it has a hub 26 rotatable in member 28. The gear 24 is coupled to a member 30 of the lower roll [0 by a part 32 which is received in a slot in member 30. Of course, the lower roll Il) may be connected to the gear 24 in various other ways. In any event as the shifter 20 is moved up or down one or the other of the gears IE will be engaged by the pin l8 so that the gear 24 is rotated in one direction or the other.

'An operating lever 34 has a shaft 35 journalled in the head 2 and the said shaft carries a part 38 shown more clearly in Figs. 2 and 3. The part 38 is rounded on its upper side but has straight side edges as shown and it carries an off-center pin 40 which is received in a suitable hole in the shifter 28 so that as the operating member 34 is oscillated in one direction or the other it moves the shifter 20 up or down.

A detent 42 in a bore of the head is springpressed forwardly by spring 44 and the operating member 34 is provided with a recess to receive the detent when the operating member is in the neutral position shown. Thus the operating member is yieldingly held in a neutral inoperative position by the detent 42.

A plate member 50 is slidable up and down in the head and it carries a curved flange 52 which, when the plate is in its lower position, fits on the upper side of the part 38. The plate 56 is slotted at 5 so as to receive hub 56 in which shaft 34 is oscillatable.

An opening 58 is provided in the upper end of the plate member 50 and springs such as 6!) are disposed between bosses 62 in the head and a lower flange 64 provided on the plate 50, as

-of ;the spring 16.

shown. The springs urge the plate downward and yieldingly resist upward movements thereof.

As the operating member is oscillated from the neutral position shown, in either one direction or the other, the member 38 elevates the plate 50, as indicated in Fig. 3, against the action of the springs and the upper end of the plate 5|] passes upwardly through a slot 66 provided in the head. A latch 10, which is slidable horizontally and is provided with an elongated slot 12 which receives bearing 5 of the head, has a lip 14 which extends downwardly. A spring 16 is disposed between an abutment of the head 2' and lip I4 and this urges the latch to the left.

An extension 80 of the latch 10 is provided so that when the member 10 is in its left-most position, the part 80 lies in the path of movement of the plate 56. Thus as the plate 50 is elevated, its upper end being curved slightly as shown, the same engages the part 80 of latch 10 and moves it to the right against the action Thenthe plate 50 continues upwardly until the slot 58 of the plate is in register with the extension 80 and then spring 16 moves the latch to the left so that the extension!!!) entersthe opening 58 of plate-50.

It will be readily seen that if the latch 10 is moved to the right to remove the extension from the opening 58 of plate 5|], the springs 60 will then'move plate50 downwardly again. Also, as

theiplate 50 moves downwardly the flange 52 will acton the side edges of member 38 to rotate it and in that way bring the shifter to neutral position.

levers 90 (see Fig. 4) are pivoted at 96 to frame '4 for swingingmovements in a horizontal plane.

The outer ends of bars-l4 may be carried by a member similar to lever 86 which is similarly pivoted'to the outer end part of the wringer frame.

The levers 90 carry extensions! which lie just behind a downwardly depending lug part H of latch 16. There are upwardly extending parts 81 on levers 86 which engage the inner sides of levers 90.

The lower end of lever 86 preferably has inclined surfaces 100 and a spring I02 extendsbetween said surfaces and the frame 4. This arrangement tends to retain the member 86 in the neutral position shown in Fig. 5 and to return it to that position when the said lever 86 is swung whenever the operator engages either one of the bars M to press it inwardly toward the frame of the wringer.

The method of operation will now be described and it will be assumed that the operating lever 34 has been oscillated to engage one of the gears [6 with the pin of shaft I4. When the lever is thus swung, the plate 50 is elevated so that its upper end is releasably engaged and held in upper position by the latch 10 as described.

Now as the operator engages one of the safety bars 14 to move it inwardly, upwardly, or outwardly, either one or the other of the levers 90 is oscillated so as to cause the part 96 thereof to engage flange H of plate 10 and urge it forwardly so that the extension 80 thereof is withdrawn from opening 58 in plate 50, whereupon the latter moves downwardly, due to the action of springs 60, and returns member 38 to its neutral inoperative position. Thus the gears l6 are disengaged from the driving pin so that the wringer rolls driven through the gearing mechanism are no longer driven.

From the foregoing, it will be noticed that it is an easy matter for the operator to contact one of the safety bars l4 to bring about swinging of the lever 86 which, as described, promptly acts on one of the levers 90 to retract the latch and instantly release the plate 50. Immediately the plate 50 returns the shifter to neutral position which thus disengages the rolls.

As previously stated, the members 14 preferably extend longitudinally of the wringer but they may be mounted in any desired manner.

While I have described the invention in great detail and with respect to the present preferred form thereof, it is not desired to be limited thereto since many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. What it is desired to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination in a wringer of a pair of wringer rolls, reversible driving mechanism therefor having a shiftable part to disengage the mechanism, a movable bar extending longitudinally of the wringer, and means actuated by said bar to move said shiftable part to a neutral position including a horizontal latch member operatively connected to said bar so as to move longitudinally of the wringer when said bar moves and a vertical plate member movable up and down between an upper position where it is releasably engaged by said latch member and a lower position where it engages said shiftable part.

2. The combination in a wringer of a pair of wringer rolls, reversible driving mechanism therefor having a shiftable part to disengage the mechanism, a movable bar extending longitudinally of the wringer, and means actuated bysaid bar to move said shiftable part to a neutral position including a horizontal latch member operatively connected to said bar so as to move longitudinally of the wringer when said bar moves and a vertical plate member movable up and down between an upper position where it is releasably engaged by said latch member and a lower position where it engages said shiftable part, and means for urging said plate member to said lower position.

3. A wringer comprising in combination, a pair of rolls, reversible driving mechanism having engageable and disengageable connections, a shifter movable between operative and inoperative positions to engage and disengage said connections, a bar movable in opposite directions on said wringer, a member movable in opposite directions engaging said shifter and moved thereby in one direction, means acting on said member adapted to move it in an opposite direction for moving said shifter to inoperative position, a latch releasably engageable with said member when moved in said one direction, and connections between said latch and bar whereby the former is operated by the latter.

4. A wringer comprising in combination, a pair of rolls, reversible driving mechanism having engageable and disengageable connections, a shifter movable between operative and inoperative positions to engage and disengage said connections, a bar movable in opposite directions on said wringer, a movable member engageable by said shifter and moved thereby in one direction when the shifter is moved to operative positions and adapted to move the shifter to inoperative position, spring means to move the member in an opposite direction, a latch to releasably engage and lock said member when moved in said. one direction, means urging said latch into engaging position, connections between said latch and bar whereby the latch is moved from engaging position as said bar is moved.

5. A wringer comprising in combination, a pair of rolls, reversible roll driving means having a shifter movable between operative and inoperative positions, a manually engageable operating member for actuating said shifter, releasable and engageable locking mechanism having a part movable to releasably engage the same which is operable by said shifter as it is moved to operative position, a manually engageable member extending along the wringer movable between operative and inoperative positions, and connections between said member and said locking mechanism whereby the latter is released by the former.

JULIAN L. PERKINS. 

